The Future Market

The food industry is facing massive changes in the future due to climate concerns and a growing global population. This year, at the Summer Fancy Food Show of the Specialty Food Association’s annual trade show, one exhibit tackled these challenges: a futurist food laboratory created a conceptual grocery store.

Mike Lee founded The Future Market, a veteran of the food industry who worked previously in product development for Chobani. He wanted to investigate how society would produce and purchase food over 25 years. The Future Market offers futurist dining experiences, brand workshops, and conceptual grocery products.

Lee of JWT Intelligence said that the packaging illustrations were meant to give them a more realistic feel. “That way people can evaluate them as if it were an actual product that they would like to buy, instead of just thinking about the abstract.”

Lee’s concept products are incredibly futuristic. AnalyzeMe is a pill that measures microbiome bacteria and sends personalized recommendations. Refuel, for $49.99, creates “consumables” that are tailored to a person’s dietary needs based on these recommendations. The product description reads: “The days of printing food in one size fits all are over.” Now, you can create anything you like, exactly the way you want.

Other products are more affordable. The Puree ($2.79), a soup that is made with waste products such as vegetable trimmings, is a soup created from waste. JWT Intelligence recognizes Alga Marina, a pasta made of seaweed, as a future eco-friendly superfood. Crop Crisps ($7.99), which are packaged like Wheat Thins but rotate crops to refresh soil, use polyculture farming. Each year, a new grain is used for the crackers.

Lee says that when you want to show something new, it’s important to anchor it with something familiar. Most of our packaging design is mainstream. The concept of the product may be difficult to grasp, but it is a great product. It’s easy to understand. To introduce the future,e you need to meet people in the present.

The Fancy Food Show is the first to include an interactive, experimental look at the future food. It’s also the first time The Future Market has set up a concept grocery store. The Future Market was able to access some of the largest names in food distribution and manufacturing by staging a concept store in the middle of an exhibition.

Lee says, “I wanted people to steal and implement these ideas.” I wanted everyone to say, ‘That is a great idea, and we have the resources to make it happen.’ I will go back and do that. I was delighted when retailers and manufacturers snapped photos of the concept product and said, “I am taking this back to our team.”

Users can fill out a questionnaire at the entrance to The Future Market to determine their food personality based on metrics that are important to them, such as health, value, and sustainability. The digital product line-up would describe not only the product but also the Future of Food concept that it addressed. This included food waste reduction and single-organism food, as well as the microbiome and quantified self.

Lee says that part of what they do is to not only follow the current trend but also create what they think should be.“A lot of our themes revolve around sustainability on a large scale. Blue Hill or Stone Barns is one of the best and most sustainable ways to grow food. It’s not scaleable to the rest of the world. We are asking,” How do you bring that lofty ideal into Kraft or General Mills?” How can you make these big ideas accessible to everyone?”

Consumer awareness about sustainability will increase as the pressure on the food industry increases. The millennial generation is leading the way in a move towards sustainable and organic products. According to Mintel’s 2017 Protein Report, 36% of millennials embrace meat alternatives compared to just 14% of boomers. The Future Market provides some creative solutions to these challenges.

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